


Ticking

by KaiKloud



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: #Freenightmare, (Nightmare is written a bit differently than most people write him okay), Arsonist Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Dreamon might be a part of this, Gen, He doesn't deserve to have to use his abilities to help Dream's quest in overtaking the SMP, Insane Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Nightmare Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Nightmare Team, Nightmare is a bit of a crackhead, No beta we die like dream's sanity, Pandora's Vault Prison, Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Warden Sam | Awesamdude, dream team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29723094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiKloud/pseuds/KaiKloud
Summary: Dream's clock keeps ticking. That insufferable noise torments him day and night, along with memories of friends, of what used to be. It doesn't help that he has an annoying parasite in his head. But maybe it's powers can be drawn upon for his own gain...~Dream snaps in prison and with a little help from Nightmare, the symbiont living in his head, manages to trigger a permanent Enderwalk state for Ranboo, forcing him to break Dream out of prison. The team ventures off to plan the destruction of the SMP once and for all, while Technoblade and Philza try to figure out what happened to Ranboo.~Green boi goes insane over a clock and possesses enderboy, Techno and Phil try and figure out why Enderboy is gone.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	1. Tick Tock

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, If you also read my Winged! Tommyinnit fic, don't worry, I won't stop updating that, I just really wanted to post this idea.  
> Also Nightmare is a symbiont so Dream can use Nightmare's powers occasionally in exchange for Nightmare getting to chill in his head, however, Dream will occasionally call him a parasite in this fic since he doesn't like Nightmare that much.  
> TW: Brief moment of Self Harm, mildly graphic description of hand being impaled, lots of blood.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream snaps.

_Tick_

The clock was ticking, like always. The repetitive noise filling Dream's head hour after hour, never ceasing. He wondered how long it had been. Tommy had visited a few ~~days~~ weeks ago, but there was still no sign of him returning. 

_Tock_

Sapnap and George hadn't visited. . . not like they would.

_Tick_

The only company he had was Nightmare, and even he had said that he was going to hang out in his own world for a bit, something about missing George and the rest of the team.

_Tock_

_I don't need them anyways._

_Tick_

_I can do so much more._

_Tock_

_I was so close to ruling the SMP, those brats just had to get in my way._

_Tick_

_They would've seen eventually, George would've come around. . . right?_

_Tock_

Dream covered his head with his hands and stared down at the obsidian floor, he noticed a small, white object on the floor and picked it up. It was a cracked smiley face mask, beaten down and covered with dirt over the years, yet the design remained.

_Tick_

_Sapnap drew that for me._

The memory flooded his head with torrential force, spilling every crevice of his mind until it was the only thing he could think about. Of the gentle pressure on the mask as a young Sapnap dotted on two eyes and a crooked smile with a marker, of Dream laughing and taking the mask off to admire his friend's handiwork. 

_"Now we have something to look at!" Sapnap proclaimed and giggled._

_"I still think you should've drawn something more intimidating." George remarked, the older boy sat on the grass with his two friends, fiddling with the tinted glasses in his hands._

_"But then could we stay friends if he scared us every time we looked at him?" Sapnap looked back and forth between the two, it had only been the three for a while, and he knew very well nothing would change.  
_

_"It's fine Sap," Dream laughed as he slipped on the mask that now donned a smile, "we'll always stay friends."_

_"Promise?"_

_"Promise."  
_

_Tock_

Dream stared down at the mask, a feeling welling up deep inside him, not sadness, but anger. He snapped the mask in half, standing up and dropping the halves on the floor with a clack. 

_Tick_

Dream looked up at the clock on his wall. Endlessly ticking. He walked over to the source of the insufferable noise, it was time to end it. Winding his fist back Dream smashed the clock, bits of glass went flying everywhere, a piece stabbing through his hand, spraying blood over it as he smiled. He _liked_ the pain. Dream looked at the shard of glass piercing his flesh, coated in blood. He yanked the piece out of his hand, ignoring whatever pain he might've felt, Dream took the piece and carved a small smiley face into his palm.

He looked back up at the clock, the blood still pouring from his hands, coating the floor like red paint. Despite being smashed, it continued ticking. Dream gritted his teeth and looked around the room for a final time, he finally noticed the scratches he had made on the walls.

_Tick tock_

_It's ⍀⏃⋏⏚⍜⍜_

_Find him_

_:)_

"Tick tock little enderman. . ." He whispered before crumpling to the ground; passing out in the pool of blood.

The ticking continued, echoing through the silent room.

~

Elsewhere, a young hybrid wonders why he can hear a clock.


	2. Dream?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where can you draw the line between awake and asleep?  
> What about a Dream and a Nightmare?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of changed the story a bit, so sorry if you wanted to see Nightmare get dragged around by Ranboo and Dream.  
> Also a tiny bit of this uses Ranboo's Enderwalk language, translations will accompany it, but occasionally there won't be a translation because It's supposed to be a mystery, you are welcome to translate it, but please don't share what it says.  
> CW: Swear words  
> TW: Blood

Ranboo shook his head, the tall Enderman hybrid couldn't get rid of the ticking noise in his ear, it was getting rather annoying. Ranboo sighed, knowing that he would have to go to the panic room in order to stop it. Ever since he started randomly hearing Mellohi, it became somewhat of a routine to go to the obsidian room whenever he heard a strange noise coming from seemingly nowhere. It was always a nightmare to deal with, but it was better than listen to the haunted disc 24/7.  
  
"Ranboo! Come inside already you idiot!" Ranboo's head instinctually whipped towards the direction of the noise, despite knowing it was his ~~landlord~~ friend, Technoblade. 

"Coming! I'm just cutting down this last tree!" Ranboo called over to the Piglin hybrid, taking a swing at the large spruce tree in front of him and jumping back as it fell over and made a small popping noise as it turned into a couple of spruce logs, which he collected and placed in his inventory. The ticking in his head increased in volume, it felt like the noise was piercing his skull. Ranboo growled under his breath and headed over to Technoblade's house. Techno didn't let Ranboo stay in his house originally because of his already existing Enderman roommate, Edward, but one of Techno's wolves had killed Edward on accident so Ranboo ended up basically moving in with Techno and Phil. He walked over to the house and entered, setting down his axe by the door and sat down on the couch in the living room.

"Hey Techno?" Ranboo called downstairs to where he knew Technoblade was probably cleaning his sword. He heard a grunt in response, signaling him to keep talking. "I'm going to need to go off on my own for a bit, so if you don't see me in the morning tomorrow, don't worry." Ranboo used his hand to massage his forehead, wishing he could go sooner and stop that ridiculous ticking noise, but it was nearing night and he didn't want to have to stay in the panic room overnight. The Piglin hybrid poked his head up through the hole to access the basement.

"Where are you going?" Ranboo froze. He'd never been asked that before. What was he supposed to do? Lie? 

"Uhm... I-" Technoblade snorted and went back downstairs.

"I'm only joking, I don't really care. Do whatever you want, just come back, otherwise Phil's going to kill me." Ranboo breathed a sigh of relief. _Only joking... of course._ He laughed a bit, but a tiny part of his brain told him that it wasn't a joke

* * *

Nightmare sat on the hill overlooking the Dream SMP. It wasn't that far off from the Nightmare SMP, only the fact that the builds recognizable as the Greater SMP's were still there instead of having been blown to oblivion. He sighed and got up, heading off in the direction of what he knew as Pandora's Vault. He had panicked the second he realized he couldn't reach Dream through the connection they normally used, so that way Dream could see him but no-one else could. He had quickly said goodbye to his friends and jumped servers to the Dream SMP, and found himself still in a physical body, and at spawn instead of in the small obsidian cell he had seen the last time he visited Dream. He was worried that Dream had broken the connection after used a big portion of his powers, considering the massive energy drain he had felt

He slipped his black mask over his face, knowing that people would freak out if they saw him, considering he looked almost identical to Dream, only the fact that he had dyed his hair red made the two distinguishable beyond their clothes and mask. Even so, he knew he should avoid people, since he had no clue if anyone knew anything about him. Suddenly he froze as he heard the unmistakable voice of Tommyinnit. 

"Oi! Who the fuck are you?" Nightmare paused as he wondered whether he should lift his mask up or not. Considering how much trauma he had seen Dream inflict on the boy, he decided against it, "scary" mask or not. He turned around and gritted his teeth behind his mask, bracing himself for whatever reaction he might get.

"Lift up the goddamn mask, who do you think you are? Dream?" Despite the confidence he seemed to hold, Nightmare could hear the fear in his voice. _Of course, he thinks I could be dream. I'm not surprised considering the fact that the smiley faces are only slightly different.  
_

"I don't think that's a good-" Nightmare whispered, trying to keep his voice as unrecognizable as possible.

"Speak up already, you're mumbling so much!" Tommy yelled. Nightmare shook his head and took a step back, he couldn't get out of this without looking suspicious. It was only a matter of time before Tommy tried to take the mask off forcefully. Luckily Tubbo stepped in.

"Hey, I understand if you don't want to take it off, but we just want to make sure you're not someone else that we know. If you don't take it off we'll have to kick you out." Nightmare's face fell. _Oh well, at least I can have a bit of time to explain myself._

"Okay... but let me explain before you attack me." Nightmare started undoing the black ribbon on the back of his mask, glad they didn't recognize his voice.

"Why would we-" Tubbo started, cutting off as Nightmare fully took off his mask, sighing as the two of them took a step back.

"See what I mean. . . Tubbo can you please tell Tommy to put his sword away?" He looked down at Tommy, who was holding the netherite sword that he immediately recognized as the one Dream had named after him. "I don't appreciate getting stabbed by something with the same name as me." The pair looked up, confused.

"Pleased to finally meet you, the name's Nightmare."

* * *

The obsidian walls surrounded Ranboo, the ticking noise was thumping in his ears, or was that his heartbeat? He closed his eyes and waited for it to stop, replaced by Dream's haunting voice.

But it never stopped.

* * *

"Nightmare? Like... Dream's sword Nightmare?" Tommy stared down at the sword in his hands, as if he was worried it would suddenly become human.

"Yup! Dream named the sword after me! I'm normally with him, but I woke up at spawn this time, so I was heading to Pandora's Vault to check on him." _And make sure he didn't make a huge mistake._

"But why?" Tubbo looked just as shocked and scared as Tommy, which wasn't surprising considering Dream had almost killed him and now he was staring at someone who looked identical to him. 

"Why?"

"Why didn't we know you? Why did Dream name his sword after you? How do you know that Dream is in prison? Have you visited him? Does Sam know you?" Tubbo bombarded Nightmare with questions, one after another.

"Alright slow down, you didn't know me because Dream chose not to tell you. He named his sword after me because I made it for him. I know Dream is in prison because we hung out in there together. I haven't visited him in the sense that you're thinking. Sam doesn't know me, and I got into the prison because normally I'm only in Dream's head, but now..." Nightmare gestured to himself and shrugged. "I just needed to know why he broke the connection we had. It _better_ not be for the reason I'm thinking."

"Connection?" 

"Well, Dream says I'm a parasite, but really, I'm his opposite. I was wounded when he found me, so in exchange for me getting to chill in his head and not die, he got to use some... otherworldly powers occasionally. Our connection is what lets me come to this SMP and be non-physical, the only way that I could be here in my physical body is if he broke the connection, and I'm worried that he broke it because I wouldn't approve of whatever twisted thing he's doing right now."

"Wait, why the hell do you care what happens to us? You said it yourself. This isn't your world, so why should you care what happens to it?" Tommy glared at Nightmare.

"I'm not like Dream, I watched as he did all those horrible things to this SMP and you guys. I watched him take people's lives. He didn't care that I yelled at him after that, if he believed that I would try and stop him, he must have snapped." 

"You- you watched that?" Tommy clenched his teeth together. "You sat there... and _watched_ as Dream killed me twice. You saw him manipulate me in exile and you didn't raise a finger?!" Nightmare sighed, knowing that he was about to get rightfully criticized by a _child._

"Alright, you know what, I've been talking to you guys too long, I need to go to the prison." He stood up and put his mask back on. "I know I was in the wrong, and you shouldn't forgive me, but your friends might be in danger. I need to help you guys." With that he teleported away in a cloud of red particles.

* * *

Nightmare stood looking at the lava. It had been hard getting into the prison, especially because he sounded _exactly_ like Dream. But he had gotten in, now he just had to make sure he wasn't too late. The lava parted and he squinted at the cell suspended where the lava once was. It took him a few seconds to finally realize what he was looking at.

"Holy shit." He breathed, Dream's hoodie was stained with so much blood it had turned red, and he was surround by glass and obsidian with shining red cracks that had absorbed the blood, appearing as if the obsidian itself was bleeding. Despite the monotone voice normally covering Sam's emotions, he couldn't hold it anymore.

"What the hell happened?" Nightmare couldn't tell if Sam was angry, freaked out, or a combination of both. He couldn't wait anymore, he teleported straight into the cell and picked up Dream's limp body.

"Dream?! Dream what the hell did you do?!" Nightmare looked around at the walls, they were covered in wobbly writing, frantically scratched into the obsidian, Dream had clearly snapped. _Goddammit._ He suddenly heard a low laughing, slowly picking up in volume. "Dream?" Dream lifted his head up weakly and grinned. 

"I stopped the clock." He laughed again. Nightmare glared at him.

"What the hell do you mean?! You cut off the connection and now you're rambling about a clock." His eyes burned with rage as Dream continued laughing.

"I mean exactly what I said Nightmare. I stopped the clock. I'm free of you, I'm free of that insufferable noise, and soon... I'll be free of this prison." Nightmare dropped Dream as he heard a noise, like an Enderman. Suddenly, a tall figure stood above the two, casting a shadow over Nightmare, he instantly knew from his days of watching Dream who it was.

"Ranboo."

"⌇⏁⟒⌿ ⏃⍙⏃⊬ ⎎⍀⍜⋔ ⎅⍀⟒⏃⋔." (Step away from Dream) The strange noises flowed out of Ranboo's mouth, Nightmare had heard the language before, so he understood it, but he refused to comply.

"⌇⍜⍀⍀⊬, ⋏⍜ ☊⏃⋏ ⎅⍜, ⍀⏃⋏⏚⍜⍜." (Sorry, no can do, Ranboo) Nightmare responded, the language didn't sound as natural coming out of his mouth, but it would have to do.

"⟟'⋔ ☌⟒⏁⏁⟟⋏☌ ⊑⟟⋔ ⍜⎍⏁ ⍜⎎ ⊑⟒⍀⟒." (I'm getting him out of here) Ranboo persisted.

"⏁⍜⍜ ⏚⏃⎅, ⏚⟟⏁☊⊑ ⏚⍜⊬." (Too bad, Bitch boy.) Nightmare smiled with the final phrase and let go of Dream, about to grab onto Ranboo and teleport them out so he couldn't free Dream. But Ranboo smirked and grabbed Nightmare's wrist, flipping him over onto the bloody floor.

"⏁⊑⏃⏁'⌇ ⏁⍜⋔⋔⊬'⌇ ⌰⟟⋏⟒." (That's Tommy's line.) Before they teleported out Dream put his hand up to his forehead in a mock salute, giving Nightmare time to see the smiley face scar Dream had given himself. Then they disappeared in a cloud of purple particles.

Nightmare groaned as he got up and turned around, expecting to see the rest of the prison behind him, but instead all he saw was lava. Nightmare realized what it looked like. A guy that looks exactly like Dream shows up and then Dream is lying in a pool of blood in his cell? Of course that's suspicious. He was still muttering in Enderman as he said the final phrase.

"⎎⎍☊☍."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -.- . . .--. / ... .-.. . . .--. .. -. --.

**Author's Note:**

> \- .. -.-. -.- / - --- -.-. -.-


End file.
